WILD 'N' WOOLLY FARM

WILD 'N' WOOLLY WILDLIFE

MONARCHS ARE RETURNING! OUR RESIDENT DOE--'GATEKEEPER'!

By allowing the farm to 'return to nature'
we embrace being a native habitat
for all plant and animal life...
not just the ones we select to grow and nourish.
Weeds are not weeds if they are not perceived as such. Predators are not predators
unless we take from them their native habitat--and
do not protect our livestock, which they perceive as prey. There must remain areas that can be allowed
to return to whatever
this new and species-endangered world
we have created WILL allow!

WILD 'N' WOOLLY FARM
METAMORPHOSIS

This photo, looking north over the Lost River Valley, was taken February 24, 2019 on WALKABOUT overlooking our farm from the top of the hill pasture above our house to the south. I didn't realize there was a rainbow in the sky until I uploaded the photo to the computer. You can just barely see Coopworth Sheep (little white dots) grazing above the barn (in the center of the photograph) at the edge of the trees and woods.

Our ~200 acres lie at the base of 'Bald Knob', a truly bald large field, that sits at the top of West Mountain. This mountain is where the Lost River begins. It lies on the 'Divide' in the easternmost part of Hardy County, West Virginia 4 miles south of Mathias. We have lived here 38 years. In fact, we have NOW lived here longer than any one family since the 1850's when deeds were recorded and maintained by the county. The farm elevation is 1800 ft. West Mountain's elevation is either 2615 or 2715 ft., depending on which map you use as reference. It snows most years--sometimes less, sometimes more (...this year far less than most years in the past)! Fortunately, summers are relatively mild, with daytime temperatures in the 80's-low 90's; and comfortable nighttime temperatures in the 60's-low 70's.

Our FARM ANIMALS graze 40+ acres only. The remaining open and woodland acreage is managed as wildlife habit; we gather just enough firewood from the 'dead and down' trees for our own use. Deer, squirrel, red fox and various song and predator birds thrive here. Coyotes do, as well, but are held at bay (not overtly permitted access to our livestock) by the 'Don't Even Think About It' attitude of our ANATOLIAN Sheep Dogs, "Sissy", "Annie", and little "Mikey"! Our Farm Shepherd, "Woodrow", retired to the porch this summer and wood stove hearth once the temperatures dropped into the 30's.

We have not made hay here for many years. Our shale ground is simply too poor to provide good quality hay for winter feeding. And there is no crop land. We purchase large round bales of orchard grass hay for our few remaining 'Highland coos', the one horse, and her companion donkey. We buy alfalfa hay from the same farmer in nearby Broadway, Virginia, to feed our Coopworth sheep during gestation and lambing. (The horse and donkey are thrilled to get the stems and leftovers!